


Bloody Murder

by Jooples



Category: Homestuck
Genre: AU - No SGRUB, Caliginous Romance | Kismesis, Homestuck - Freeform, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-11-01
Updated: 2014-04-07
Packaged: 2017-12-31 04:17:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,147
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1027140
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jooples/pseuds/Jooples
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Homestuck AU - Sgrub never existed, Alternian life continues. The trolls are now 10 sweeps old. Her Marvelous Admiration has begun a project - observing a planet put under the same rules and conditions as planet Earth.<br/>Sollux is working a job as a criminal investigator.<br/>Eridan is a homicidal murderer.<br/>While hiding from each other, they end up finding each other in a dangerous dance of hatred and the impacts of the law.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Capitulum Unum

** TA **

Sollux Captor was in a bad mood. This wasn't unusual, it was rare to see a time when he was happy, let alone smiling. He had been working for twelve hours straight, angrily reading and signing notes for the current case he had been presented with. Working in a detective agency wasn't easy, but the pay was excellent. It definitely had more pros than cons, although recently the list of cons was slowly creeping up higher.

The current case Sollux was working on wasn't anything challenging. He had done similar cases before, but with tasks like this one came piles upon piles of paperwork. Theft crimes were quite simple as the culprit could easily be caught, but written consent from the victims to search their hive for clues, paperwork regarding stolen items, and the fees on technology made the task monotonous and almost not worth the trouble.

Taking a final sip from his coffee, Sollux signed the last page in the first pile, leaving the next one for tomorrow. He sighed deeply, relaxing his tired arms and stretching his legs out a bit. The time was 7:17am. He had worked far overtime for the third time this week, but he didn't care enough to complain to his boss. He had nothing better to do back at his hive anyway.

The office was nearly deserted by now, apart from a cleaner mopping the floors. Sollux nodded at him as he walked past, exiting the building. He had missed any buses that operated this late, so he reluctantly had to walk back to his hive. Taking out an umbrella to shield himself from the sun, he began the treacherous walk. As Zedner was a fairly new planet, there was an abundance of potholes, craters and steep hills.

Halfway there, Sollux realized he had accidentally brought his gun with him. Normally, he would leave it in his desk. Using guns was something he was not interested in, but it was company policy that he had one on him at any time during his shifts. He preferred using his psionics, but revealing his power to anyone could result in instant suspension and culling. It was a lot safer to pretend to have green blood, and it was very likely that Sollux wasn't the only troll doing the same.

Upon reaching 10 sweeps, Sollux had been allocated to a planet called Zedner. The planet had been emptied of life by the Admiration and her servants a few sweeps ago, and was being used as a test to see how troll life would function on a new planet. The population was mostly trolls of equivalent age or older, and everyone was at least a green blood, or so it was thought. Trolls of Sollux's mustard yellow blood, particularly psionics, were being sought out by the Admiration for reasons unknown. It was very wise to avoid being found by her at all costs.

Sollux remembered Feferi before she became Her Marvelous Admiration. A few sweeps ago, Feferi and her monster lusus attacked her predecessor, Her Imperious Condescension who was on her return trip back to the trolls home planet. They ended up killing her, allowing Feferi to gain full rule over all Alternian trolls. The burden of ruling finally took its toll on her, and she became almost exactly like the Condesce, if not worse. At least this was Sollux's theory. No one really knew what had happened; Feferi was once known for her cheery attitude.

He had finally made it to his hive. It was very small, but big enough for basic needs. Sollux was saving up his money for a new TV anyway. Anyone else would save up for a bigger hive, but he didn't want to draw attention to himself. If he were to last in this new society, the more he stayed on the down low, the better.

He placed the gun under his couch, and then sat in and began watching his old TV. It was very small, and hurt his eyes a bit looking at it. It was way too early for any good shows to be airing though, so he just put it on the news channel. Sollux took his glasses and threw them across the room. He had acquired them before fleeing Alternia. The lenses were almost like a mirror, prevented anyone from seeing the true colour of his eyes. Unfortunately, the lenses were very dark, and he blinked several times, welcoming the small stabs of pain as they adjusted to normal lighting.

Learning new words and terminology was difficult. Bus, house, money, jobs. He found it difficult to keep up, and tended to use normal Alternian terminology as much as he could, as long as no one could hear. Sollux stretched out on his couch, shutting his eyes and quickly drifted to sleep. He had left the TV on, and missed the report:

_We have breaking news, the Bloody Murderer has struck again, this time slicing the arms off a citizen, leaving them to bleed to death. This is the fourth attack by this mysterious troll. More information will be provided later._

It was rare for trolls to fear a murderer, but the influence this new society shifted the trolls into a more relaxed state of mind. Since culling no longer meant certain death, and many old rules were no longer in place, it was a far easier lifestyle to adjust to. If Zedner was able to run smoothly, the Admirse would stop visiting the planet. This would mean no one would be culled, no one would be tortured.. The murderer was preventing this fantasy from becoming a reality.

 

**CA**

Eridan Ampora was in a bad mood. This wasn't unusual, it was rare to see a time when he was happy, let alone smiling. A life constantly on the run from the officers wouldn't strike happiness in anyone anyway. He has long since forgotten the reason why he does the things he does, which is probably for the best.

After a tiresome night, Eridan was ready for a long nap. He had left a troll alone, presumably bleeding to death on the opposite side of town. The troll cops should be finding it right about now. This was enough time for him to leave the city and return back to the cavern he calls home. It was right on the edge of the beach, which was far enough away from the town for the officers to neglect looking there.

Eridan was a stowaway on an airship on its way to a fairly new planet called Zednor. He wanted to escape his previous life in the monarchy. Her Marvelous Admiration, his former moirail, had changed drastically. He watched her become corrupt under the pressure of ruling over the trolls. She had abandoned her moirail, and in turn he abandoned her. Unfortunately, it wouldn't be as easy as that to escape the monarchy, and he knew he had to escape. Her sudden change in thought had shocked him, no one could possible have predicted it.

The Bloody Murderer was the name the new trolls of Zedner had given Eridan. After a few weeks scampering around in the shadows of this planet, he grew bored. Hiding his face in his cape, he began murdering trolls left and right. He had no other way to let out his anger. Before the Admirse's rule, murder was not a big deal. It was even considered a sport, but now it was a felony punishable by culling.

Finally, he had arrived at his cavern. The entrance was concealed by water, conveniently earning Eridan access and no one else due to his gills. Luckily enough for him, any troll of his blood colour would be offering service to the Admirse on one of her may airships, as Zedner was not a high priority.

Eridan's cavern was quite empty beside from random piles of clothing scattered around. He fell asleep the moment he jumped on his scarf pile. In his cave, Eridan felt safe.

It was going to be a long week.


	2. Capitulum Duo

**TA**

"Sollux. Forget the theft, we are going to assign to you a new case." Sollux's boss was a grumpy and straightforward blue blood. He owned the entire business, most likely due to backstabbing his competition before the flight to Zedner. Luckily, he treated Sollux a bit more nicer than his other employees, probably due to the fact that he never left a case unsolved.

"Thank fuck. What's it this time, boss?" Sollux asked, boredom dripping from his words. Upon arriving back to his desk that afternoon, he had noticed his paperwork had mysteriously disappeared. In the back of the room, an angry sigh could be heard; most likely from the unfortunate troll who had to finish what Sollux had started.

"Well... How do I put this? The Bloody Murderer case..." It was rare to see the Boss this uncertain, but the Bloody Murderer case was very troublesome for the company. Five detectives had previously been put on the case, and each of them had died a brutal, gory death. Being assigned to it was the equivalent of being assigned a death sentence. Not really something that anyone would want to do.

"Let me guess, you're assigning me the case? Well isn't that fucking fantastic."

"Well, you are one of the best our business has to offer. And we need this to be solved as soon as possible. And don't think I'm letting you do this alone, I'm assigning you a partner."

Sollux sighed. He didn't exactly work well with others. Most of his cases were done by himself, and all of his previous partners refused to work with him again. He had no idea why. Who could possibly resist his charming personality? (Hint: everyone)

"Her name is Pyrope. She is new to our company, but she is very keen to take on our biggest case. Fucking idiot." He muttered the last part under his breath with a smile. It was almost as if he enjoyed the imminent death of his new employees, the ones that trolls in the media knew nothing of, leaving them nothing to report. As long as the Boss didn't have to do anything, he could safely watch everyone else from the shadows, laughing as he did.

"Fine then. Send her in. I would like to speak to her in private, if you don't mind." The Boss left the room with a final chuckle, making a gesture to the door. Then, she entered.

"Hi, I'm Terezi Pyrope! I believe we will be partners on this case?" said the passionate troll. She had a huge grin, showing all of her pointy teeth. She was wearing a feminine suit and tie, but a teal flower in her pocket revealed her blood color. She was wearing dark shades, with a slight red shade to them. She seemed somewhat familiar, although Sollux couldn't place a finger on it.

"Before we start, is there anything I need to know about you? Blatant stupidity, compulsive lying, tendency to accidentally stab me?" Memories of previous partners met him with a shudder. This Terezi girl seemed alright so far.

"Well, there is one thing. But you can not tell anyone!" She said, still smiling. Sollux immediately presumed blood color. But if there was one thing she wasn't going to do, it was make him reveal his own. That wouldn't happen in a billion sweeps. But Terezi surprised him, taking off her glasses to reveal red where there should be yellow. She was blind.

Sollux was completely still again. It wasn't from shock, but it was the familiar feeling he got from her. Everything about her just reminded him of someone. The suspense was killing him.

"Thank-you for telling me, Terezi, and I promise I will keep it a secret." He said, adjusting his own mirror shades as she put her glasses back on."Now if you would please help me, we have a lot of paperwork to do." He said glumly, pulling out a chair. All she did was smile as she sat down, picking up a paper and signing randomly in the middle of the page.

 

**CA**

Eridan stared down at the troll he had pinned beneath him. They were in an alleyway on the far end of town, where no one really went. It was preferable for an interrogation, but it was best not to stay too long.

The troll was most likely a journalist of some sort - Eridan had found her walking up to people and demanding answers about the Bloody Murderer. When handling dangerous subjects, it was best to be discreet. That was her first mistake.

"How long have you been workin' on the story?" Asked Eridan in a polite voice, except his angry face said differently. The troll was obviously scared, and not even trying to look tough in the face of danger.

"Th-three d-ays!" She blurted. Her eyes were clenched shut, trying to prevent tears from forming. Eridan reached into her pocket and pulled out her notebook. He flicked through the pages, which were full of many, many accounts of the Bloody Murderer - some true, some false. He put the notebook into his jacket pocket and turned to face her.

"Tell me the truth." He said firmly. Purple fire danced in his eyes. Her lie was her second mistake.

"T-two weeks." She whimpered. She was very young, about two sweeps younger than Eridan was. Her inexperience was very obvious to him.

Eridan smiled slightly, and pulled a knife out of his pocket. It was stained in blue, green and aqua. It supposedly would've looked pretty if it wasn't troll blood.

"Wh-what are you doing w-with that?" She asked frantically.

"Are you makin' fun of my accent?" Eridan shot back, chuckling a little. She shook her head quick and seriously. At least Eridan could laugh at his own jokes.

The troll had finally started to cry, no matter how hard she was trying not to. This caught Eridan's attention, and he leaned over, wiping an orange-brown tear off her face. Her blood color was a high felony on Zedner.

"Hmm, how about you don't tell anyone my secret, and I won't tell anyone yours?" Eridan suggested. She nodded, gasping for air between sobs.  
  
"But still, I don't know if you'll keep your end of the bargain..." He continued. The troll looked at him with eyes widened in shock. Before she knew what was happened, Eridan jammed her mouth open with his hands, and stuck his knife in her mouth. He counted to three, and sliced through the bottom of her mouth, cutting her tongue out. Orange blood spilled everywhere: over her clothes, over his hands, over the ground. The troll let out a scream, but it was muffled by the large amount of blood filling her mouth.

"Don't you dare even write to anyone what happened. I have my ways of findin' out, and if I hear of anythin', your tongue won't be the only thin' I cut off you." He threw the tongue at the young journalist, and walked out of the alleyway and into the night. She was left there, on the ground, to choke on her own blood.


	3. Pharisaeis Nicodemus

**GC**

"You wouldn't believe who I saw today!" Terezi yelled excitedly to her matesprit across the room. She had changed out of her tuxedo, now wearing some comfortable pjamas. It was a good feeling, being safe. She and Karkat deserved it after what they had been through.

"Let me take a wild guess: no one?" mumbled Karkat in a grumpy tone. This was pretty much his regular tone. He was sitting in an armchair, fiddling around on a stolen laptop. Terezi giggled; blind jokes never really bothered her.

"Sollux! He definitely did not remember me though!" Karkat froze, and turned to face Terezi.

"Sollux?! But we haven't even heard from him in sweeps! Not since the whole Admirse thing. How could he possibly have not recognized you?"

"Well, he did speak to you more than he spoke to me. And I've kind of forgotten half of our old friends too, so give him a break." Terezi swiftly jumped over the armchair, and landed right on Karkat's lap, giving him a huge kiss.

After Feferi had lost her old personality, she had abducted every troll of Karkat's blood colour, and locked them up in a special room on one of her huge airships. _"Wouldn't want them to come to any harm, would we?"_ She had said. There were around ten red blooded trolls in Karkat's room, and three had died within an hour. No matter how much Karkat tried reasoning with Feferi when she came to retrieve the bodies, she would not listen, insisting that she was culling them for their own safety. She had been corrupted well beyond reach.

Terezi knew she had to save Karkat as news of Feferi's insanity reached her. She had boarded the flagship on one of its frequent visits to Alternia, and spent half a sweep on board trying to find Karkat's room. She had been caught twice by the guards on board, but always managed to escape them.

Eventually, she had found Karkat, and escaped off the airship, and stowed away on another one to Zedner. Terezi had heard about this planet, and knew it meant safety. She was able to claim a hive just out of the city, all while sneakily hiding Karkat. If he were to leave the hive, it would mean certain death, probably for the both of them. It was nearly impossible to hide his blood colour.

"Do you ever miss life back on Alternia?" Terezi asked suddenly. Karkat shrugged.

"Well, it's the exact same to me. Stay in hiding or you'll die. Such fun." His answers always lacked heart, but Terezi was used to it. She cuddled up to him, quickly pecking him on the cheek. He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her in closer.

"Don't worry. As soon as that stupid ideot of a murderer stops doing what he's doing, we'll be home free. That reminds me, we haven't seen Eridan since we were on the Zedner airship. Surely he would've been somewhere in town, maybe the new mayor of some sort?"

"What an illusive bastard."

 

** CA **

On Alternia, Eridan rarely went into the ocean. He had killed a lot of trolls and the other sea dwellers were hostile towards him because of this. But on Zedner, he was the only sea dwelling troll. The ocean was his to rule.

Drifting aimlessly through the ocean current was the easiest way to pass time. It helped Eridan get his thoughts together without any distractions. He had left his baggy clothing in his cave. After all, it was near impossible for anyone to find him here. A little skinny dipping wouldn't hurt anyone.

Orange blood was rising off his fingers, drifting away into the abyss of the sea. He watched it slowly floated away, and scrubbed the rest off. A fish of some sort swam over, trying to eat it, paying no interest to the murderer.

Eridan almost didn't hear the large splash behind him as something began to sink through the water. The fish abruptly swam away, tearing Eridan's attention away from it. He then turned around, observing the object which had stopped sinking. As it began moving, it immediately became apparent that it was not an object. It was another troll.

It was not a sea dweller, to Eridan's relief, just a regular land dweller. He was very startled, and hadn't even noticed another presence. Eridan concluded that the unfortunate troll had fallen from a boat or a flagship.

Once the troll snapped back to reality, he began screaming at the sight of the naked sea dweller before him. Bubbles escaped his mouth, racing to the water's surface. He soon shut up, and grabbed Eridan's shoulders. He was begging for Eridan to bring him to the surface, but the stone cold sea dweller showed no such mercy. He watched as the troll shook Eridan's shoulders, screaming frantically. Eventually, the trolls grip weakened.

He had not drowned yet, merely passed out, which was dangerous for Eridan. What if some more trolls came looking for him? As unlikely as it seemed, it was still a huge threat to him. He opened his mouth, sharp shark teeth glistening in the water. The troll had a weak reaction, assuming Eridan was finally about to help him. But Eridan bit down onto his chest, dragging his teeth across, ripping shreds of flesh out. Green blood was sprayed out, surrounding the two trolls. The ruined body of the now dead troll began to sink, being met by ravenous fish the further it went.

As more puffs of green floated up, Eridan decided it was best he headed home.


	4. Capítulo Catro

**TA**

Sollux had arrived to work earlier than usual. He only wanted to get his unavoidable death over with quicker. If he somehow survived the Bloody Murderer, then the Admirse would back and discover the issue in Zedner, and the Murderer would be culled. Everyone would be put on an airship, locked away in cells until a new planet was found. In short, Sollux had nothing to look forward to.

Once he had sat down and began flicking through files, Terezi entered the office. She too was early.

"What the flipping fuck are you doing here?" Sollux asked in an angrier tone than he intended. However, the blind troll did not flinch.

"I am here for the same reason that you are," She answered. "To put a stop to the Murderer. To keep Zedner safe. To..." Sollux was only half listening, and was not aware that she had trailed off.

"Well I think you will find that we are here for opposite reasons then. Anyway, we got you a proper desk." He pointed to the slightly smaller desk beside his. Terezi smiled, and proceeded to empty her bag all over it. Out came a coin, a white stuffed lizard toy, a few papers and a phone.

After a few moments, Sollux shook his head and reached for a case on his desk. He handed it to Terezi who excitedly took it from him. "As your... partner... I have the issue and pain of giving you your damn weapon. I am inclined to tell you that I don't particularly like using them. Just a little heads up." He winced throughout the sentence. Normally, he would keep that information to himself, but her blindness was a whole issue on its own. He would have to be a bit more open with her. _Smart move, Pyrope._

Sollux turned his attention back to the files on his desk. The first one, entitled 'The Bloody Murderer Case', was almost completely empty. There was just a few blurry pictures of a troll, and a short letter. He quickly disregarded the file. The next two were on Zedner and listings of all the trolls on the planet. A Zedner history was of no use to him, and five thousand names was just too broad for him to search through, and that was assuming the Murderer's name was on that list.

A sharp knock on the door interrupted the two. A small troll, maybe a sweep younger, stood shakily in the doorway. She placed a small container on Sollux's desk.

"This was found an hour ago... We think it might help your case...?" She said uncertainly. Sollux merely glanced up at her before resuming what he was doing. Terezi just nodded at her.

"I'll just be going now..." The door was quickly slammed shut. Terezi gave Sollux a look, or at least raised an eyebrow somewhat in his direction.

"What was her problem? What did you do?"

"I guess everyone here is intimidated. Don't know. Who cares?"

Terezi got up and reached for the container, Sollux making no effort to stop her. Her face cringed as she brought it up for a sniff.

"Wow. This smells like shit dipped in expired lusus meat. And not the good kind." Terezi opened the container, and the smell escaped, filling the entire room. Inside was a lot of brown blood. It was safe to assume that it was from a low blooded troll, definitely one which had no business being on Zedner. It must have been a few days old as troll blood tended to darken with long exposure to oxygen.

"Aw gross!" Shrieked Terezi, lifting up a blob from the container. It dripped brown all over her desk and down her arms.

"Pyrope. Please don't tamper with evidence. And wear gloves for fucks sake."

"This is a tongue."

"What."

"THIS IS A TONGUE."

Sollux gagged, scrunching up his face into a look of disgust. Terezi giggled, neatly placing it back into the container. She wiped the blood on her pants, picking up a small piece of paper attached to it. It listed a location and time, with a brief description of the containers content. It dawned on her that it would have been easier to read the note first. She ripped that part off the note, and handed the rest of it to Sollux.

 

**CC**

Feferi Peixes, better known as Her Marvelous Admiration, or the Admirse was feeling very annoyed at the many titles she was forced to have. The naming system for the fuchsia blooded rulers was a tradition in troll society, or so it was presumed. The predecessor had been in rule for a lot longer than anyone had anticipated, and Feferi was glad she was able to put a stop to it.

The Admirse visioned herself to be more happier and kinder than the Condesce. Like she had always dreamed of, the meaning of culling had successfully been changed. Straightaway her poor mutant friend had been culled. She had long since forgotten his name, although it was only a sweep or two ago ( _Krabcatch?_ ). In her eyes, he needed help as soon as possible. This was her plan all along anyway: to make Alternia and troll society much safer and pleasant. 

The prisoners of the Condesce had to be culled too. They were sent to any of her soldiers who were willing to take them in. What happened next to them was not her issue. Unfortunately, some trolls did not meet eye-to-eye with her requests. They too had to be culled; their corrupted opinions were a danger to troll society. She had them sent to different abandoned planets across the galaxy.

Her main mission was to get the trolls working together, instead of under a tyrant's orders. In order to have her airhips using up less resources, having psionics to power them for her was vital. The Admirse would send drones and soldiers to hunt them down. Any troll who refused was immediately culled, and sent to an empty planet for failing to see what was best for their people.

Eventually, the Admirse wanted to test out different ruling systems. The first of these planets was Crandor, which was a huge failure. The system, which she had named tarcomed, involved people voting on who their leader would be. The planet became lost to war, the trolls never truly agreeing with each other. She decided to abandon the planet, and has not checked on it. It was forbidden to go there.

The next one was still ongoing. Zedner was ruled by money and wealth. From what she had heard, everything was running smoothly, although there was a slight disturbance. She would be checking on it soon, but if there were any bad signs, she would have to cull the population.

Longings for a moirallegiance began dwindling on her mind again. She would love to have someone to calm her, to take the grief of ruling away, if not for just a while. She knew she had one previously, but had since forgotten where he, or she, had gone. Sometimes she just got too busy to keep track of things.

It was hard being Empress, but Feferi made it work for herself. If it wasn't for her adviser, an older troll called Meenah, then Feferi knew her trolls would have fallen to war.


	5. Capitulum Quintum

**TA**

Tonight, Sollux was finally able to leave his office. He and Terezi had finally completed every last sheet of paperwork, allowing them complete search warrants for all of Zedner. This was the type of freedom a dead person would be given, and Sollux enjoyed it.

Terezi was in a meeting with the Boss, doing something Sollux did not know or care about. He preferred investigating alone anyway. It was the only time he could use his psionics to search for a lead or clue. Tilting his dark glasses down his nose ever-so-slightly, he emitted blue and red waves along the alleyways.

To be discreet, Sollux used only low amounts of his power. This was still enough to detect a small woofbeast, and a troll sleeping near a trashcan. He was about to continue walking along until he felt a presence behind him. Slowly, Sollux turned around to find the streets empty. He was very confused, until he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around again to be greeted with a fist in his face.

Sollux fell to the floor, his glasses shattering beside him. Before him was a shadowy, violet figure.

"Well hello there. It is a pleasure to finally meet-" The Bloody Murderer froze mid-sentence. "Fuck. Fucking fucks." This gave Sollux a chance to do something while the Murderer was caught off guard. He quickly got to his feet, and slammed himself against the Murderer, unleashing his psionics to pin him to the floor. He then lifted him up, the Murderer glowing in red and blue, writhing helplessly.

"Oh Sollux, you know you're not meant to use your bullshit psionics. You would be culled!" The Murderer managed to grin.

"What the fuck? How do you know my name?" Sollux had no choice but to release him from the clutches of his power.

"You seriously don't remember me? Well I for one am disappointed."

"Hmph..."

"Come on. Moirail to Fef? I was second in command!"

"Eridan?" This was not good. Sure, if he were some blue blood then Sollux could have arrested them right there. But this was a violet blood, a royal blood, whose opinion is regarded as more important than Sollux's. Eridan would tell them the truth about Sollux's blood colour, and that would mark the true end to his life. And of course Eridan would not be culled. This case truly was a death sentence.

"You son of a bitch."

"Now, now. No need for that stupid language. Sol, please come with me. You don't have a choice." He was right. Sollux groaned, picked up what was left of his glasses, and followed the Bloody Murderer with his head gravitating to the ground.


End file.
